Monday, July 31, 2017

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of a project I made using My Happy Place fabrics from Studio E. I fell in love with this fabric as soon as I received it and was thrilled to work with it.

My first project was an umbrella; and I paired these four of the grey fabrics of the collection fabrics with Surf Peppered Cotton. Love it!!

I really do like this!

While I was trying to figure out a fun way to take pictures of this, my step-daughter Sheryll and her husband Jim invited Jack and me to a concert at Blossom Music Center.

This is a wonderful facility that hosts a large number of musical programs each year; and it's the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra. Blossom is an amphitheater, located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio which is less than two hours from our home. Yay! The pavilion seats 5,700 people, and there's space for about 13,500 more on the lawn. As usual, we sat on the lawn, simply because we think it's fun and relaxing.

There was a chance of rain the day we were there, so took my umbrella - just in case. While we were walking toward the facility, I had an idea and knew that Sheryll would be up for helping me. She's always fun and up for a challenge! 😊

At first, I just snapped a few shots of Sheryll and the umbrella.

I wanted to get a few pictures with the amphitheater in the background...

And then the fun began!

Do you remember the "Where's Waldo?" books?

My kids loved those books, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I kind of liked them too. So, I decided to use that theme and create a "Where's My Happy Place?" blog post.

We arrived early, so before the concert began, Sheryll took a stroll around the facility and I snapped pictures of her and the umbrella. She had fun doing this and it started a lot of conversations! FYI - projects made with this fabric WILL be the start of many conversations. It is that wonderful !!

So, how about joining the fun and play along with me?

Can you find "My Happy Place" in each of the pictures? Just like the books, sometimes it is really easy to find it, but you'll have to look hard on others.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Life got in the way and I slacked on posting each day of the hop. Plus, I have not yet responded to all of the comments from my day! I am really going to do that. I promise!My delay in posting will not hinder you from winning prizes. Here's a message from Sarah about the prizes.Now - about the giveaways. I know I originally said I would announce the winners on Friday, July 28th, but we've had such an awesome response to the blog hop this year that I think it's going to take a little longer to tally all the responses and draw the winners. So I will announce all thirteen winners on Friday, August 4th. Thanks for your patience - I guarantee it will be worth it!

After all, it's not every day you get a chance to win some of Tula Pink's Holiday Homies, is it? Big time thanks and a huge shout-out to this year's sponsor, Free Spirit Fabrics, who provided all those lovely pre-cuts!!

So, you still have time to check out all the blogs and leave your comments to be entered in the giveaway!

Here's the full list of participants, including some extras that Sarah added.

Bonus Posts: I also want to be sure you know about some additional posts that have happened during the hop. Karen of Tu-Na Quilts, Travels and Eats has been stuffing a stocking with some great ideas, and is having a giveaway today. Be sure to head over to her blog and see her creations, then enter the giveaway - it's a goodie! Michele at Crayon Box Quilt Studio posted a tutorial for the quilt she made for the hop - click here to find the directions! And Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life did a tutorial for the cute little JOY mini-garland she featured in her hop post. You can find those instructions here! Carole of From My Carolina Home has a wrap-up post on her blog today, too. Jennifer of The Inquiring Quilter is posting some of her Christmas tutorials from earlier years today on her blog. And finally, Jan of The Colorful Fabriholic has a tutorial for her wonderful tree wallhanging - I know I'm excited about seeing that! You can find those instructions on her blog.

Thanks go out to Sarah - Confessions of a Fabric Addict - who organized this hop. She's kept everything running smoothly and enticed us with "Christmas Goodies" each day too. On top of everything else, she offered a quilt along. She posted steps each day and if you were able to follow along, you ended with a quilt top that measured approximately 60" square.

I used patriotic fabrics and was actually able to complete the top.

I absolutely love how this turned out!

Mine is slightly larger than Sarah's because I could get a few more strips cut from the strip sets and I had extra of all the fabrics. Instead of each panel being 15 squares x 16 squares, mine were 17 x 16. I also have extra that I'll piece into the backing. That has not been done yet, but I'll show it as soon as I get it done.

My plan is to leave this as is - no borders. I plan to bind in the gold.

Be sure to leave a comment on each blog you visit because there are some amazing prizes to win.

On top of everything else, Sarah is offering a quilt along. She posts steps each day and by the end of the hop, you'll have completed the top that measures 60" x 60". WooHoo!

I decided to use patriotic fabrics instead of Christmas fabrics. (That decision was made because I had a really big stack of those fabrics out and it just seemed easier to pull some from that, instead of putting them away.) I have all my panels sewn and here's how they look. I think I'm going to like this!

I'm excited to be working with a wonderful Studio E collection - My Happy Place.

I'm loving this fabric and spent some time today fussy cutting a bunch of small squares.

I cut some others and even made a few half square triangles using some Peppered Cottons. I got so excited to play that before I had everything cut, I started to put a block together. This is going to look even better when I have all the fabric cut. 😊

Stay tuned for more pictures. Even though I'm not going to be home until quite late, tomorrow should see a few more blocks made.

Monday, July 17, 2017

Thanks to Sarah - Confessions of a Fabric Addict - for organizing this hop. It's fun to see all the posts and get lots of holiday ideas. I posted yesterday and am loving all the comments I received. I'll spending some quality time with my computer, answering all those comments. 😊

I'm also participating in the Christmas Quilt Alongthat Sarah is hosting and I have all four of my strip sets sewn. WooHoo!

It's not too late; you can join too!

If you sew for a few hours each day of the hop, you'll end up with an awesome quilt that measure 60" x 60".